POLITICS

AzerTAg.az

“Azerbaijan will continue efforts to protect its fair stance,” said spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry Hikmat Hajiyev as he commented on two-Azerbaijani related reports debated at the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Hajiyev said PACE adopted a report on "Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water" and a relevant draft resolution prepared by Milica Markovic. “The PACE resolution condemns the humanitarian and environmental problems created for Azerbaijani citizens living in the region as a result of Armenia's occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories.”

“The Assembly considers that the deliberate creation of the artificial environmental crisis should be regarded as an act of hostility of one state against another with the aim of creating ecological aggression and ecological disaster zones. The document also underlines the fact that the lack of regular maintenance work for over 20 years on the Sarsang reservoir, located in one of the areas of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia, poses a danger to the whole border region. The resolution calls on the Armenian government to stop using water resources as a tool of political influence or pressure and in view of the acute humanitarian problems urge immediate withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the region.”

Hajiyev said: “The resolution sharply condemns the fact that Armenian parliamentary delegation and Armenian government did not cooperate with the Assembly during the period when the report was being prepared.” “Such behavior of Armenia does not comply with the obligations undertaken as a full member of the Council of Europe.”

The spokesperson said that unfortunately, the report "Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan", as well as a draft resolution on the basis of it prepared by Robert Walter was not adopted. “Some 66 PACE members voted for the resolution, 70 voted against it, while 45 abstained.”

Hajiyev noted that in the absence of any progress in resolving the conflict, Azerbaijan supports any initiatives of other international institutions that can positively contribute to the elimination of the consequences of Armenia's aggression against and occupation of Azerbaijan and will continue its efforts in keeping this issue on the agenda of international organizations and protect the country's fair stance in this regard.”